venturing4th: Archaeocyathids

Up at 5:30 to be in line for the ferry loading at 7 am. We were in line at 6:30 when we learned that we needed to go back up the hill to the motel, across the street from the entrance to the campground, to check in. That’s the thing about northwestern Newfoundland, practically every thing has more than one purpose. Like the motel, in addition to having rooms, it is also the office for the ferry and the local coffee shop. It is actually quite handy to have so many things together.

I don’t remember much about the hour and a half ferry crossing. I had taken dramamine at 6:45. By 8:15 my eyes were closing and I was ready for sleep. There is a section of the ferry where there are several rows of big, overstuffed chairs and practically every one was in use by sleeping people. Me too.

Waiting in line for the ferry to Labrador at 6:45 am, at St. Barbe.

The ferry to Labrador docks in Blanc Sablon, Quebec, which is two km from the Labrador border. Our first stop in Labrador was the Gateway to Labrador Visitor Centre., in L’Anse-au-Clair. (L’Anse = cove) It is located in a restored, early 20th-century church with interpretative panels, art pieces and artifacts that tell the 9,000-year-old story of the people of Labrador. There we learned about the Jersey Trail which begins about a half kilometer from the Visitor Centre.

Off we went on this easy trail that goes past a beautiful sandy beach to the rugged shore where fishermen from Jersey, in the Channel Islands, established a fishery in the 19th century.

At the Visitor Center at L'Anse au Clair, Labrador.

Lovely reconstructed church for the Visitor Centre.

A inukchuk on the trail to the Jersey Rooms.

A blind used when hunting shore birds.

Sandy beach at the Jersey Rooms.

On the trail.

Interesting rock formations on the trail to the Jersey Rooms.

Our next stop was the Point Amour Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site in L’Anse-Amour. Along the way we passed then Maritime Archaic Burial Mound National Historic Site. This is the burial site of a Maritime Archaic Indian child who died about 7,500 years ago. This is what is on a plaque at the site:

The L’Anse Amour burial site is the earliest known funeral monument in the new world. The Maritime Archaic people occupied this area 9,000 - 3500 years ago. This Indian child died about 7,500 year ago. The body was covered in red ochre, wrapped in skins or birch bark, placed in a large pit 1.5 meters deep. Fires were lit on either side of the body, and several spear-heads of stone and bone placed beside the head, a walrus tusk, harpoon head, paint stones and a bone whistle were also placed with the body.

L'Anse Amour Burial site.

At the Point Amour Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site you can climb 109 feet to the top of Canada’s second-tallest lighthouse (the tallest is on the Gaspee Peninsula in Quebec). Exhibits at the lighthouse tell the story of life on the Straits. As at some other lighthouses we have visited, one family passes down the role of light keeper from father to son for three generations; in this case the Wyatt family. They were the keepers for 84 years. Matthew, from Quebec, 1879 - 1889; his son Thomas, 1889 - 1919; and,his son Jeff, 1919 - 1963.

We looked at a number of exhibits on the ground and second floor of the historic light keepers house and then climbed the 109 feet to the top of the light. That was exciting, but what was really thrilling was looking down at the beach as seeing what looked like carefully laid cobblestones all along the shore. When I asked, I was told that they are natural, fossilized coral reef that grew 530 million years ago. Called archaeocyathids, they are formations composed of calcite skeletons of an extinct group of sponge-like animals. The Point Amour fossil reefs, which were formed 530 million years ago provide evidence that this region was once in a warm shallow sea near the equator. Ah, plate tectonics!

Second tallest lighthouse in Canada.

Wildflowers at the lighthouse.

Lightkeeper's sitting room.

Scale model of the building of the lighthouse.

The archaeocyathids pattern on the shore.

View from the top of the lighthouse. Fog gathering in the distance.

The archaeocyathid is the light colored critter in the rock.

Other fossil finds at the lighthouse.

Another.

And, another.

The wedding clothes for Thomas Wyatt. He made the dresser from wood that remained from shipwrecks that he picked up on the beach. Her wedding dress is in the drawer.

Another, beach-side, view of the arhaeocyathids. The tide is coming in and covers a good part of them.

Our next stop up the coast was West St. Modeste and the Bouquet Trail. We were told it was a boardwalk and we thought, how difficult can that be? We have been on plenty of boardwalk trails that are flat as a pancake. This one, however, went practically straight up in a series of ever increasing steep steps. But what a view from the top.

It was very windy at the top of the hill.

Descending the boardwalk trail down into West Saint Modeste.

A long way down.

One hour later we were back at the car and heading for Red Bay, the location of the Whaling Station Cabins. What a great place! First of all, I thought Red Bay would be some type of modest major town, it is located at the end of the paved road in Labrador; the road beyond is gravel. However, Red Bay has about 75 houses, one overnight accommodation, the Whaling Station Cabins - there are four of them - located in a refurbished merchant premises which served as the town museum before they became guest accommodations. We are in one called “The Loft”. There is also only one restaurant in town. No Tim Hortons, nothing besides The Whalers Station, which is also where we went to check-in, in the gift shop. See how convenient everything is?